A vehicle immobilisation device has come to the rescue of a van stolen while being used for delivery duties for Amazon.
The van had been hired from Practical Car and Van Rental Oldham and was fitted with a tracking device from East Yorkshire-based tracking company Simplytrak.
The driver was dragged from the vehicle before the thieves drove away but luckily didn’t suffer any injury as a result.
Immediately after receiving notification of the theft, Practical’s director Naz Akram called the Simplytrak customer helpline.
He said: “Fortunately, the van was fitted with a tracker which has the functionality to immobilise the vehicle once the engine is turned off. So, I called Simplytrak to inform them of the incident. The Simplytrak team were excellent and they started tracking the van, so we knew where it was and then remotely immobilised the vehicle, so we were able to recover it.”
The recovered van turned out to have the interior light and roof lining ripped out; a common place for vehicle trackers to be located.
Simplytrak’s business development manager Ian Wood commented: “Vehicle thieves are getting wiser and they know that tracking devices are becoming more popular, particularly in larger fleets. This is why our trackers are carefully concealed in a way that makes them difficult to locate so we never lose track of our customers’ assets, which is so important when immobilising and safely recovering vehicles.”
This incident came just days after the Sheffield branch of the Practical franchise experienced a similar theft, with the Simplytrak immobilisation feature again helping to recover the van.
Practical’s Mr Akram added: “There’s a strong partnership between Practical and Simplytrak and quite a lot of the franchisees use them for tracking.
“Occasions like this really show the value of the system but what’s impressed us the most is the customer service we’ve received from the team at Simplytrak. They helped us to immobilise and recover this van swiftly, even on a weekend.”
